Automatic locks for sectional scaffolding



Dec. 13, 1955 A. c. BORGMAN ETAL 2,726,902

AUTOMATIC LOCKS FOR SECTIONAL SCAFFOLDING Filed Aug. 10. 1953 INVENTORSUnited States Patent AUTOMATIC LOCKS FOR SECTIONAL SCAFFOLDINGApplication August 10, 1953, SerialNo. 373,362

r 1 Claim. Cl. 304-40 This invention relates to sectional scaffold framebrace locks. End members of sectional scaffolds have diagonal braces,which cross each other and have their free ends fastened to the uprightsof the end members.

The object of this invention is to provide a substantially automaticlock, which may be readily applied and as readily released.

For this purpose, the invention consists of a bracket holder secured toan upright, a movable slide member having a forked end and a stud orstem secured to said upright for engaging the holes of the braces, andsaid stud adapted to be embraced by said forked member, which engages areduced portion of said stud, said slide member being adapted to placeon said bracket member out of operative position, when not in use toengage the stud.

The invention will be further described, an embodiment shown in thedrawing, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a front view of the improvedautomatic frame brace lock;

Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe views.

Referring to the drawings, the usual vertical or upright of a sectionalscaffold has a horizontal 11, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

To the vertical or upright 10 is applied, a U-shaped supporting memberhaving a vertical band like member 16 and two horizontal members 17 and18. The end edges of the members 17 and 18 are welded as shown by 17aand 18a to the upright 10.

Below the supporting member 15, the upright 10 has secured thereto bywelding 20a, a screwthreaded stem 20, which between the two parts ofthreaded portion 21 and 22, has a guiding cylindrical or reduced portion23.

As known, the cross braces of a sectional scafiold having holes neartheir ends, seat on the stem 20, and heretofore a nut (not shown) wasturned on the screwthreaded portion to clamp the end or ends of suchbracing elements. The dot-dash showing of the brace 24 is shown in Fig.2, marked Brace locked.

The supporting member 15 acts as a guide for a fastening device 25. Thisdevice 25 consists of a U-shaped member having a base portion 26 and twolegs 27 and 28. At the upper part of the device 25, a bolt 30 having itsends 31 and 32 upset or riveted, passes through openings in the two legs27 and 28, and said bolt 30 rests on the lower horizontal 18 of themember 15, to support said device 25.

The lower part of said device 25 has an open slot 35, with two tongues35a and 35b extending beyond the 2,726,902 Patented Dec. 13, 1955 seat36 of the slot. The width of said slot is slightly wider than thediameter of the reduced part 23 of the stem or stud 20, to permit thedevice 25 to slide to and over said reduced portion 23, until the seat36 of the said slot 35 rests on said reduced portion 23.

The vertical 10 is so alignedv with the stem, that the slide tongues canenter the reduced portion. The distance of the vertical part 16 of theband 15 from the upright 10 is such that the bolt 30 when seated in thelower corner of the vertical 16 and horizontal 18 suspends the slidetongues 35a and'35b in the proper position, to permit said tongues tostraddle said reduced portion 23. It will be noted that the base 26 isparallel with the vertical 16. The two legs 27 and 28 of the base 26,preferably have a vertical contour 29, as shown in Fig. 2.

The base 26 extends beyond its legs 27 and 2S and is bent over to form ahandle 40 at right angles to said base, and this handle 40 is gripped bythe user to move the slide device 25 into brace holding position or intorest position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The operation is as follows:

When the scafiold sections have been erected and the braces applied, theslide is moved over the reduced portion 23 with the position of the bolt30 in its corner position, and the parallelism of the parts serves tohold the slide in proper position to hold the braces securely againstdisengagement.

When the slide device 25 is not used for such a brace holding action, itis moved upwardly to the dotted position shown in Fig. 2, wherein thehandle 40 is parallel with the upright 10, and the base 26 is parallelwith the upper horizontal 17 of the band supporting member, the bolt 30presing against the upper corner of the band supporting member 15 formedby the horizontal 16 and vertical 17.

The slide device 25 has a shoulder 25a. When two braces, instead of one,are used as is the case where a continuous scaffold has been made up,that is, one section adjacent the other section, then the braces of onesection extend over to the other section. Thereby two braces engage thestud 20. This feature is the adaptability of the lock to take either onebrace as shown or two braces when used in a continuous scaffold. Thefastening device 25 is stepped at 25a for this purpose and as shown onFig. 2, when it is at its bottom position, it locks in a single brace.However, when two braces are used, the fastening device 25 wil onlyslide down on the supporting member 15 until the lower stepped positionof 25 comes in contact with the outer brace. The fastening device 25 isthen still in a position where it cannot be tilted forward and it holdsthe two braces firmly.

I have described several forms of my invention, but obviously variouschanges may be made in the details disclosed without departing from thespirit of the invention as set out in the following claims:

We claim:

In an automatic brace lock attachable to the upright of a sectionalscaffolding, the combination of a U-shaped supporting member having anelongated base and a pair of legs, said base being vertical and said twolegs horizontal, substantially shorter than said base and secured to theupright with the free extremities thereof, a slide member having a baseand two right-angled sides, each of said sides having an opening in theproximity of the upper end thereof, a bolt passing through said openingsand through said U-shaped member along said vertical base thereof forslidably holding said base of said slide member against said verticalbase of said U-shaped memher, said slide member being pivotable on saidbolt for moving its base away from the base of said U-shaped member whensaid bolt is adjacent the upper one of upright at the other extremitythereof, said cutout being.

vertieally a ligned with said slide member base to be received in saidslotted portion on the downward gravitational movementoi said slidemember, whereby a brace engaging said stud between said cutout and the Vupright is locked by said slotted portion of said slide member ongravitational sliding movement thereof, and removable-from said stud onupward movement of said slide member and pivoting thereof away from thebase of said U-shaped member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS HoerrMay 1, Kneale Sept. 28, Lightly Apr. 8, Chaffee Dec. 30, Hathaway Mar.12, Tobin et a1. L. -L. Feb. '14, Meng etqal. July 24, Albrecht et a1.Apr. 21, Benson et a1; .1 June 22, French Aug. 10,

FOREIGN PATENTS France Apr. 26,

